Marketing Home Products

The surge of consumers to the Web looking for information, shopping and social networking is creating a marketing opportunity for those who make their company and product information accessible to the buying public.

We’ve listed a few simple tools that can help you plot a course through the Web, increase searchability and reap the rewards that come with it.

(1) Link, Link, Link
Add links to credible sites and resources onto your site and ask them to do the same. Building a network this way adds to your reach and gains traction with the potential buying customer.

(2) Motivate with Compelling Content
Critically assess your Web copy to ensure that product and company information is written to address key audiences. Provide valuable information about your industry and the related trends that your potential customer can use to make a purchasing decision. A study conducted by Eyetools Inc., reported that the average time spent on news-driven Web site homepages is only 14 seconds, so cut the jargon and be to-the-point.

(3) Streamline the Design
Organizing the layout of your site improves searchability, usability and the overall success of the site including how long and how often your potential audience visits or even if they get past the first few seconds of clicking through. Use consistent and appealing logos, color schemes and easy-to-read fonts that show the personality of your company.

(4) Keywords Really are Key
Targeted keywords should be a part of every page of your Web site; even in file names, headings, tags and URLs. Having these words throughout your site increases the chance it will come up in a search, and it will increase the ranking and positioning on the site among others. Your keywords are the terms your customers or prospects are already searching for when they log on to the Web. Also, monitor what keywords your competitors are using on their sites. This is easy to do via Google and Yahoo!.

(5) Emulate the successful sites of others
Study other well-known and competitive sites to see what they do well. Notice the style, layout and mechanics of sites you like. Even if you are hiring a professional to do your company’s site, showing them what you like will save time and money.

Here are examples of sites we like:

Dove.Com – Easy to navigate, clean, easy-to-read fonts

Cork’d.Com – Caters to those who love wine via elegant simplicity and content

Energy Star’s – Valuable information in a straightforward manner

(6) Traffic is the goal
Traffic isn’t just about sheer volume. It’s about the quality of the click throughs you get and how many translate into actions such as requests for more information or sales. When a site is done well, it can become the main tool in your marketing tool chest. After all, customer interaction is the key to customers taking action.

An excerpt from the Los Angeles Times:

“Arthur Erickson, the prominent Canadian architect who designed the campus of Simon Fraser University, Robson Square in Vancouver and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, and whose work on the California Plaza towers in downtown Los Angeles nearly proved his financial and professional undoing, has died. He was 84.

Erickson died May 20^th in Vancouver, according to a statement released by his family. The cause was not given.

His career, which spanned more than five decades, was shot through with contradiction. He was a dedicated, widely traveled scholar of architectural history who found himself strangely out of step with the post-modern movement of the 1970s and ‘80s, which sought to reassert the value of historic styles.”

To read the full Los Angeles Times’ article, click here.

 

The landscape of America is changing. Major modifications in our nation’s building codes have altered the way homes and communities are being designed and constructed. Those who are marketing home products have no doubt seen this national paradigm shift supporting sustainable building practices, a move that is imperative to quality of life. GreenPlumbers USA recently reported that our nation’s economy and the well-being of the environment depend in large part upon energy and water resources used in our homes and commercial buildings. The financial experts agree, with The Financial Times stating that the building of sustainable homes yields excellent financial gains for those homeowners who take the leap.

“Although it’s still a small part of the overall market, green homebuilding has risen 50 percent since 2004,” according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).  McGraw-Hill Construction, a research leader in the industry investigated and determined that this sector of the housing market can expect to see ample growth – doubling by 2012 – and be worth an estimated $40 – 70 billion. At least this is some good news for those in the housing industry who play the environmental cards right.

This growth can be attributed to the new-era households being built with state enforced eco-friendly codes and laws that merit actions for water conservation, reduction of residential green house gas emissions and use of recycled materials. Voluntary until 2010, the new codes which affect all new construction statewide call for significant increases in energy efficiency and water conservation.

An article in Contractor magazine states that indoor water consumption will need to be reduced by at least 20 percent in the coming years. This is just the start of vast policy changes worldwide which will require conservation where it was only “suggested” in the past. Water is identified as the most valuable and perishable resource.

Nationwide, building codes are also beginning to move towards the use of high efficiency toilets and low-flow faucets and showerheads; the new standard in home construction and remodeling.

So what does this mean for the home products and building industry? The general public, the building and development community, manufacturers and marketers will learn to adapt to a conservation-focused lifestyle by regulation if not by choice. Those that have not tooled up to be on the cusp will be left behind in a big way and it’s not just products; it’s getting on board with learning about the natural forces and consumption that is driving the legislative action. Interest is very high in part out of absolute necessity to meet codes but also out of a resonating perceived duty in the minds of the public to be better guardians of the world at large. As is the case in most things, those who are open to change will get the greatest level of satisfaction in increased sales and personal gratification for doing something to sustain the health of our families and our planet.